The People's Republic of Bangladesh (1971-present) is a unitary parliamentary republic located in the Indian Subcontinent, with its capital at Dhaka. It has a population of 156,594,962 people, with 89% of them being Muslim, 8% Hindu, 1% Buddhist, and .5% Christian.
History[]
Bangladesh was originally called East Pakistan, 1,760 kilometers (1,100 miles) away from West Pakistan (present-day Pakistan). In 1947 the state of Pakistan was created in the Indian Subcontinent as a union of any Muslim regions that wanted to create a state separate from predominantly-Hindu India. East Pakistan was duly inclined to join forces with West Pakistan because 89% of its population was Muslim.
The Bengalis of East Pakistan had little in common with West Pakistan, however; 98% of their population was Bengali and the only similarity was their religion. The people of Bangladesh sought to escape the economic exploitation of West Pakistan, and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman formed the Awami League fighting for autonomy in 1954. In December 1970 his party won a major elecion victory, and on 26 March 1971, East Pakistan declared independence. When Rahman was imprisoned, Indian Army forces assisted the rebels and the Pakistanis were defeated by Indian forces in massive tank battles. On 16 December 1971, the Pakistanis surrendered unconditionally and Rahman became the new president. In 1974, Bangladesh was recognized as independent by Pakistan.
Bangladesh went through problems shortly after it gained independence. President Rahman had to deal with rampant corruption, poverty, and inequality between the classes. In 1974, a famine dealt a blow to the prestige of the country and on 15 August 1975 Rahman and his family were encircled by rogue Bangladeshi troops and massacred in their house. Ziaur Rahman, a general of the Bangladeshi armed forces, became the dominant leader of the provisional government and he was elected as president in 1977. However, he was killed in 1981 by rogue members of the military after he took power over the Awami League.
Only in 1991 was democracy restored, and Bangladesh faces less problems. Bangladesh's political instability, poverty, corruption, overpopulation, and climate change continue to poorly affect the country, although their economy slightly increased. In 2013, the Islamist Jamat-e-Islami party was banned and leaders Delwar Hossain Saidi, Abdul Quader Molla, and others were sentenced to death for war crimes committed in the 1971 war.
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